To open any file in Turbo View & Convert, simply drag and drop it onto the program window. Alternatively, you can choose File → Open... from the program menu. When opened, Turbo View & Convert tries intelligently to recognize the file type and display the file. In addition, Turbo View & Convert provides whatever additional information it can about the file.

After opening your file, Turbo View & Convert displays two panels, a file information panel on the left, and a native view panel on the right. The left information panel displays helpful information about the file and is customized for different file types. The right panel shows a the native view and provides helpful tools that can be used to adjust the view and edit the file. In the program toolbar, you can switch the right panel between native, raw text, hexadecimal, and icon perspectives (more on the Text, Hex, and Icon perspectives later).

File Information Panel

Here are descriptions for the different sections shown in the left file information panel:

• File Information: Technical information about the file, including the file type, size, and when it was last modified. This information is similar to what you see when you view file properties in Windows.
• Document Information: This displays metadata about the specific file type. Other types of files will show different kinds of metadata. Images, for example, will show EXIF data and other metadata if available. Multimedia files will display codecs, track information, and other media information.
• Misc Information: Whether the file is read-only, hidden, or a system file. If it is a system file, you can be aware that this is a file that is being used specifically by Windows. If it's read-only, then it cannot be overwritten.
• FileInfo.com Information: Turbo View & Convert is linked to the FileInfo.com database, which provides information about thousands of different file types. If the file extension (e.g., .DOCX, .PDF, .JPG etc.) matches a file extension from the FileInfo.com database, then this section displays matching file types. Note that there are some file extensions that have multiple file types. For example, a .DAT file could be one of several different types. If you would like to read more about the file type, click the View at FileInfo.com button.

To hide the information panel, you can either click the left arrow in the upper right corner of the panel, click the "Info" button in the program toolbar, or uncheck View → File Information from the program menu. You can also show the panel again by toggling these options. To hide the information panel by default when opening files, choose File → Preferences... from the application menu, and check the "Hide the left information panel when opening files" option.

Lastly, you can export the information from the left file information panel to a text file by choosing File → Export File Info... from the program menu.

Native View Panel

The native view panel allows you to view and edit your files before converting or saving them. Different types of files have different tools and options for viewing and editing. To see information about how to view, edit, and save different file types, refer to the other sections of the user manual.

If Turbo View & Convert shows "No native view available" in the native view, then the file is not recognized.

This could be due to a few reasons. First, Turbo View & Convert may not support this format (see the File Types page for supported file types). Secondly, it's possible that this file is corrupt. For example, if the file has the file extension .JPG and Turbo View & Convert says no native view is available, it is likely that this is not a valid JPEG image. Lastly, the file itself may not ever be meant to be viewed. For example, system files, such as .DLL or .SYS files, are not meant to be viewed like traditional image files are.

To view more information about your file type, click the link under "More information." This will redirect you to FileInfo.com, which will provide a description of the file type.

Text, Hex, and Icon Views

The Text and Hex views are for advanced users who want to be able to see files in a raw format. The Text view displays a raw text view of the file, and the Hex, or hexadecimal, view displays the hexadecimal representation. The icon view shows the different icon image sizes used by Windows to display the file in the Windows Explorer.

Text and Hex views are useful for inspecting the contents of files. Users can locate hidden information, identify unknown files, or identify a file signature based on these views. Each of these views are searchable so that you can locate information quickly without having to scan manually through the file. Turbo View & Convert can display files of virtually any size with these two views.

User Interface Skins

Turbo View & Convert provides two user interface skins, one with a dark theme (the Turbo View & Convert default) and one with a light theme. You can change the skin from the application menu by choosing View → Skin → Dark for the dark skin, or View → Skin → Light for the light skin.